When I was little, I had the wildest of dreams. Dreams that could move mountains, dreams that could change the world even! I used to sit down for hours staring into space dreaming about the future and how I could change the present and the past with it. I used to see a lot of movies and animations then so it made my dreams more adventurous and real. My little sister always interrupted these dreams with her chatter and complains about how little her share of the beans was or how boring the house was. I used to get so angry with her because I knew that after I had attended to her needs, the dreams would elude me and then I would have to start dreaming afresh.
I cannot start counting how many scenes, houses, projects, or even people I had created in my dreams because they were so many although there were very distinct ones. There is this one where I used to dream about designing a sky scraper that had the tiniest point below and the broadest point above. My God! It was going to defy gravity and the whole world was going to know about it. My little sister always said she wanted to be a journalist so in my dreams, she was the one who interviewed me on international television as, according to my dream, a world known architect. So you see, even in my dreams, I dreamt for my kid sister.
I also dreamt about my own family and how beautiful it would be. I dreamt that I was working at home and my kids were running around with their playmates who had just had my homemade ice cream and meat pie. I was at my desk with a picture of my lovely husband in a frame by the right and a picture of my kids to the left. I had an already established blog by then, so I wasn’t really working hard. Have I told you that I had already opened about six blogs before this main one? Well yeah, it’s been a long time coming.
I even dreamt of my death and my funeral. I dreamt that I was so accomplished that the whole of Nigeria knew about me and my death. There were helicopters soaring with my pictures all over the country (bizarre, huh?). Everyone came for my funeral which was well-organized by my accomplished children. Are you surprised? Trust me, I have only mentioned the simple ones.
One thing little Ify didn’t know about life was its uncertain reality. Those questions that almost drive me crazy anytime I think of them: How? When? What time? Will it? When would it? Why is it? Aarggghhhhhh..
Although these questions piss me off, I have come to realize that these uncertainties are blessings because they force you to get creative. Whenever I complained to my dad about the many restrictions our lecturers in school place on us and how they refuse to let us dream, I usually expect him to be on my side and support his first daughter, but you know what he does? He clears his throat and proceeds to explain to me how I should see my limitations as blessings. He says that limitations have a way of forcing us to get creative in building design and also in life.
In the same way, these uncertainties and fear of risk are simply blessings handed to us by nature to force us to think. Due to the fact that we are never sure of situations, we are forced to think and plan for the worst in order to survive. It forces us to be creative!
Little Ify used to be a dreamer, and she believed she could fly.
Older Ify is now a creative dreamer who knows she can fly.
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The Female Igbo Architect 